The biggest security threat to the US might not be ISIS or Al Qaeda

An
Iranian woman walking past an anti-US mural painted on the wall
of the former US Embassy in Tehran.Thomson Reuters

Some security experts warn that the biggest threat to US security
might not be one that gets the most attention.

Counterterrorism officials and the public are on high alert from
terrorism threats, but a
new threat assessment from the conservative Heritage
Foundation warned that Iran "represents by far the most
significant security challenge to the United States, its allies,
and its interests in the greater Middle East."

Iran might not be as much of a short-term threat to US domestic
security as terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda. But its
potential for developing a nuclear weapon once its deal with the
US expires makes it a significant long-term threat.

The deal the Obama administration struck with Iran limits the
country's capacity for developing a nuclear weapon in exchange
for sanctions relief, but after 10 years the Shia Islamic
theocracy could start ramping up its nuclear program.

"They're very patient and they're very strategic," Michael
Pregent, an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute and former US
Army intelligence officer in Iraq who opposes the Iran deal, told
Business Insider. "For us, 15 years seems like a long time, for
them it doesn't … They'll be able to weaponize in 15 years. And
then they'll be the dominant force in the Middle East."

A fellow for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
expressed similar concerns earlier this year.

"While Iran's nuclear weapons capability will grow, the tools
available to the United States to counter and contain it will be
diminished," Michael Singh, a former senior director for Middle
East affairs at the National Security Council, wrote in January.

"Iran's growing nuclear activities and its remaining nuclear
infrastructure will have been granted legitimacy by the
international community, its defensive and offensive military
capabilities will be greater, and the United States will have
agreed not only to refrain from imposing additional sanctions on
Iran for nuclear advances but will also have suspended its most
significant sanctions."

And if the US wants to keep the deal from falling apart, the
government might be reluctant to rebuke Iran for its activities
outside the country.

Increasing sanctions could "kill the deal, and that's why the
administration is so against enforcing anything, even UN Security
Council resolutions," Pregent said.

But Iran's nuclear program isn't all we should be worried about.
The country also poses a cybersecurity threat and sponsors
militias and terrorist groups like Hezbollah.

And the sanctions relief that Iran got from the nuclear deal
could help the country increase its terrorism operations in other
countries.

"They're not changing their behavior," Pregent said. "They're
more provocative. They're able to do more … They're a more
destabilizing force now post-Iran deal."

Iran has been supporting Shia militias that are fighting ISIS in
Iraq. While these militias are an effective fighting force
against the terrorist group, Sunnis have
accused them of torturing and kidnapping civilians simply for
living in ISIS-held territory.

Hezbollah is also a concern. The Lebanese Shia militant group
that receives funding from Iran sometimes carries out attacks on
Iran's behalf.

"Given Hezbollah's close ties to Iran and its past record of
executing terrorist attacks on Iran's behalf, there is a real
danger that Hezbollah terrorist cells could be activated inside
the United States in the event of a conflict between Iran and the
US or Israel," the Heritage report noted.